Hervé Nicolas

480 minutes of absolute live broadcast on French Television during the ascent of Everest of the French expedition Sagarmatha 88. The first live broadcast of an Everest ascent. The program showed images on the progress of mountaineers, the Sherpa country, Nepalese sites and the technical and human resources used for this great adventure. The team, led by Serge Koenig could not provide live images from the top of the mountain as their television camera failed, but they succeed in making a live audio transmission from the summit.

Everest Ascent and Tragedy. A French expedition of Chamonix guides was led by Serge Koenig and composed of Denis Ducroz, Hervé Thivièrge, Alain Payot, Jean-Paul Chassagne, Marc Galy, Daniel Audibert and Jean-Paul Balmat. They had hoped to broadcast for television from the summit. On October 12, Koenig and Lhakpa Sherpa left the South Col and arrived on top at 1:30 P.M. Their television camera failed and so they left it on the summit for a second try later. On the descent they met Galy and Lhakpa’s brother Pasang Temba. Some time later, Galy descended to the South Col, figuring it too risky to continue.